The Gray Flannel Man

Geoffrey Beene Talks About The Expensive, Sensual Clothes That Came Out Of 30 Years Of Designing.

November 13, 1991|By Mary Gottschalk.

WRITING FROM SAN FRANCISCO — Geoffrey Beene is looking very much the part of high-fashion priest, wearing a shirt with a white band collar under a navy sweatshirt as he ponders mannequins wearing his fall collection.

Considered by many to be the greatest, and certainly the most cerebral, designer in the United States, the 64-year-old Louisiana native made his mark on the fashion world with a series of firsts, using gray flannel, wool jersey, sweatshirt fabric and denim in evening clothes and lace and satin for day.

He has won all the fashion awards, including eight Coty Awards and Designer of the Year from the Council of Fashion Designers of America twice. Last month, he picked up another, the Mary Ann Magnin Award commemorating the spirit of I. Magnin`s founder.

Speaking with a touch of a Southern accent, the cherubic Beene is unfailingly polite. He is, however, as comfortable talking about himself as a mouse is in a cage with a cobra.

Ask the man

Here is a Q&A with him:

Q. Next year, you mark 30 years of Geoffrey Beene Inc. Do you find that exhausting or energizing?

A. I find it amazing. Thirty years have passed quickly, so I look forward to the next 30.

Q. Your menswear shirts are the best-selling designer shirts in the United States. Why?

A. Apart from the product being damn good, and beautifully priced, I think it`s my name on a quality product.

Q. How involved are you with the design of the shirts?

A. As involved as one can be with the dress shirt. It`s been with us, I guess, since the beginning of the century. But in terms of colorations and fabrications, I`m deeply involved.

What about those prices?

Q. Your shirts are in the $30 to $45 range, but your women`s clothing line is $2,000 to $15,000. Does it bother you that you are not affordable for most women?

A. Well, you cannot be everything to everyone and I`m not sure I`ve ever desired to be. It would be an impossible task.

I love the expensive clothes. I had optimistically launched a line earlier this year with a better price, but we had not perfected it. But it will come back because there are too many women who do ask me, `When are you going to make something affordable?` So making the expensive clothes does not upset me, it delights me. But it would delight me more if I also had an affordable collection.

Q. You`ve been advocating short skirts for close to a decade now.

A. Short skirts I love simply because they use less fabric and also I love legs. I think most men do. I think longer skirts age and I don`t know any woman who likes aging. No way can I see society moving toward 2000 in long skirts. It`s so illogical.

`Clothing can be sensual`

Q. Do you believe there is an emotional factor in clothing?

A. Decidedly. It`s the way we perceive ourselves and the way we wish to be perceived by other people. Clothing can be sensual, it can be sexual, it can be plain, it can be boring. It runs the gamut of emotions. I don`t know of anything more emotional because it is a second skin.

Q. Your designs are in many museum collections. Are you creating art or clothing?

A. I create clothing because it`s enjoyable. It is the judgment other people make if it is an art form, not myself. However, if indeed I had to sit down and say I have to do a work of art I`m not sure I could ever design anymore.